Halloween Countdown Paper Chain

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and my passion for it clearly seeped into my kids’ genes because my 4-year old has been filling her sketchbook with pictures of bats and spiders, and wants to know when, when, when we can put up our Halloween decorations.

The Halloween catalogues and impossible-to-miss store displays play a huge role in this premature enthusiasm, but I want to celebrate her interests while harnessing a bit of that energy.

Oh, and Halloween is still a whopping 41 days away.

So I thought we could make a Halloween countdown chain to help us visualize how many days until all that apple-bobbing goodness would be upon us.

How to Make a Paper Chain

Halloween-colored papers, cut into approximately 2″ strips

Stapler or Tape

N selected colors that reminded her of Halloween and we cut them into strips.

We wrapped the first piece into a circle, stapled it, and then proceded to interlock the rest of the pieces until we were done. N decided she had enough after around chain link #25. I think the visual cue helped because she hasn’t asked me how many days until Halloween once since we made this.

The garland was about fifteen feet long, so we draped it over a chandelier. My children jump at any chance to climb on furniture and was eager to cut her first link. Scott, my smarter-than-me husband, came home and suggested I take the chain off the hot light fixtures, and it’s since moved over to the window. I married a good one.

That’s exactly how it started over here, Chelsey. The question stopped coming until tonight, about 30 minutes after we cut the chain. What?! “When will it be Halloween?” I just laughed and reminded her about the paper chain. Oh, so many more days!

we’re in the same boat – bonkers is right! N has changed her mind about costumes 7 times already, so we aren’t committing to one this year until the week before… which i’m hoping gets me off the hook with sewing the costume this year. perhaps we should paper-chain halloween, too! we’re big fans of the paper chains around here and mostly use those pesky catalogs and colorful junk mail to make ours when counting down to vacations or when loved ones visit. (right now we’re just 6 days away from a gwee visit!)

7 times, jen?! that sounds familiar. My N is set on her cowgirl costume, but with sooooo many days left, I’m not banking on it. We’ve made the chains with magazine too — it’s such an easy way to put them to good use.

Love your new look here! We put every last bit of halloween decorations up last weekend (I came home and my husband and daughter did it all)! It looks a little crazy at our house, but it is fun. We actually carved a pumpkin already and C asks to carve another one every day. It is definitely an exciting holiday and one of our faves too. Take care.

Thanks for the lovely words coming from one of the smartest people I know 🙂 We baked a pumpkin, so we’ve already had some roasted pumpkin seed and pumpkin cutting experiences, but we haven’t carved one yet! I think you may have a child who’s more bonkers about Halloween than mine!

We have already decorated! I love this time of year. Halloween is my favorite, and my daughter loves it too. I love your simple halloween countdown chain. We’ll make one this week and start October 1st. 🙂